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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0427------------------7/16/04 |
The WAVE Report is Searchable on
http://www.3dlinks.com
http://www.wave-report.com
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Check Point Protects Customers Against Latest Microsoft Vulnerabilities
0427.2 Story of the Issue
0427.3 Home Networking
0427.4 Business Support Software
IDC Insight: Unisys Ties its Future to 3D Visible Enterprise
0427.5 Virtual Reality
0427.6 Wireless
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***Check Point Protects Customers Against Latest Microsoft Vulnerabilities; Further Demonstrates the Value of the Check Point SmartDefense Service
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.
July 15, 2004
Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., announced that its industry-leading VPN-1, InterSpect and Connectra product lines provide defenses against vulnerabilities announced in the Microsoft July 2004 Security Bulletin Summary. The Microsoft Summary addresses several vulnerabilities in various Windows applications and components. In the most severe instance, an exploitation of some of these vulnerabilities can result in a computer being taken over by an attacker.
Check Point provides customers with the industry's best network and application-level security protection for dynamic threats such as those listed in the Microsoft July 2004 Security Bulletin Summary. Check Point products can also protect users from Microsoft vulnerabilities, including those without currently available patches. Customers using the Check Point SmartDefense Service benefit from real-time updates and advisories that provide protection against such new and emerging threats.
A detailed description of the threats and defenses are available to subscription customers of the SmartDefense Service. For more information on the Microsoft July 2004 Security Bulletin Summary, please go to the Check Point Security Center at
http://www.checkpoint.com/securitycenter/index.html
***Supercomm 2004
By John Latta
Chicago, IL
6/21-23/04
Last year in Atlanta the WAVE was overwhelmed with information as major uncertainties hung over the industry. Everyone was looking for answers to when and if the market would rise again. A major cloud of uncertainly over this industry dissipated when the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in March 2004, overturned the UNE-P section of the FCC Triennial Review. With many of the regulatory uncertainties removed and the economy looking up it is a different Supercomm this year.
It was estimated that Supercomm attendance was up 20%. We believe it. Booth space is up and attendance appears up. Supercomm is about technologies and the hot ones are are VoIP, wireless broadband and converged networks. SBC Chairman Ed Whitacre announced that SBC would invest $6B to take fiber to neighborhoods (FTTN). FCC Chairman Powell called that good news. Microsoft was a part of the SBC announcement when Ed stated they would use MS TV for the delivery of television content over the SBC broadband network. Next year Chairman Powell predicted that this sector would be HOT.
Another major shift has happened in wireless broadband. WiMAX was not even known a year ago and this year a broadband wireless standard gets a warm reception. Yet, as we probed the floor there are many forces at play that will shape the potential for broadband wireless. The role that WiMAX technologies will play is TBD.
FCC Views
Both FCC Chairman Powell and Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy were quite bullish about what the FCC is doing to create an environment where competition can flourish. The statement by President Bush that there should be universal broadband service by 2007 is seen as a major step forward.
Commissioner Abernathy had these points.
The FCC is significant potential in wireless. We added 200MHz of spectrum at 5.8GHz. There is a rule making to free spectrum in the UHF bands to be used on a non-interference basis.
We believe that there are many opportunities for the delivery of broadband including wireless, satellite, cable and powerline.
Broadband over Powerline (BPL) has promise and we believe the interference concerns can be addressed. There is no requirement for common carrier status to be applied to BPL. The rules for BPL will be released by the FCC this summer.
The FCC is now moving into another area: Internet services. We are looking into the non-discriminatory obligations associated with the Internet.
At the same time VoIP is in need of a regulatory framework. Areas to be addressed include: E911, individuals with disabilities, CLEA and universal service. At the FCC we are quite concerned about the steps being taken by some states to regulate VoIP. This requires that a national regulatory framework be developed also.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell had these observations.
We seek to foster the technologies which contribute to the broadband platform – DSL, cable, satellite, wireless and powerline. The FCC pushes all platforms.
At the FCC, we are looking forward. In the past the emphasis has been on looking back on the work that has been done. We must do our best to foster investment and entrepreneurial spirit.
Wireless broadband is a major change. It enables one to plug into the world’s information anytime anywhere.
Everyone likes the promise of wireless – in the home or outside. In the home the only wire should be the power plug.
The states are making a grave mistake in seeking to regulate VoIP.
We all should be seeking simplified solutions that empower individuals.
Is Simplicity a Killer App?
Bill Smith, CTO, Bell South, had an interesting perspective on voice convergence. The connected individual is now carrying around more devices than they would like – cell phone, Blackberry and PDA for example. But little has been done to improve mobility across networks and places: work, home, public hot spots and outside locations. Data and voice networks are largely independent. Given this very little has been done to simply the devices, their use and to capabilities of interest to the user. Thus, Bill suggested that simplicity is the killer app. This was part of this justification for voice convergence. The example given was interesting.
An individual carries one phone with one number. This phone has 802.11 and cellular.
VoWLAN would only trigger in pre-designated locations. Not in Starbucks but in the office and at home and the set up could be done in a PC with a web interface.
When the user drives home from work, the phone would sense the home WiFi network and turn off the cellular use. It was cited that this VoIP telephony would be done over broadband to the home. He could also configure the phone to be on or off and accept certain calls and not others.
It was also suggested that PDA and laptops would also be equipped with both cellular wireless and 802.11 communications.
The impact of such a phone service would accelerate the move to an IP infrastructure which uses softswitches for both the wireless and wireline infrastructure.
Broadband Wireless Noise
As the WAVE walked the floor, broadband wireless seemed everywhere. Here is our collection of points.
WiMAX Forum gave the WAVE an update on the current status of the standards and interoperability efforts.
IEEE Standards voting on 802.11d – within days – final standard will be complete.
The announcement of the testing organization to evaluate compliance with the specification awaits final details, likely legal. According to WiMAX, the recommendation was made months ago.
No products are WiMAX compliant until they pass plug fest participation and this includes working with at least three other companies products. Thus, the products will first go through compliance testing and then the plug fest. No plug fests have been scheduled. The first is expected in April 2005, at about the time that first products will be released.
It is expected that the 802.16e specification will be finalized by the IEEE in March 2005. Products are expected in H2 2006.
Redline had banners in the booth – Shipping 802.16 products. When quizzed they stated these products are 802.16a that no one seems to care about anymore. When we spoke with the WiMAX Forum they did not seem to care that products were promised early in the market. Keep in mind that WiMAX is focused on 802.11d and e, not a.
Even Alvarion appears to have jumped the gun with the announcement of its WiMAX platform, BreezeMAX, due for commercial deployment in Q3 2004. They claim this product is based on the IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standards and WiMAX Forum profiles. The BreezeMAX platform is designed to support WiMAX certified CPEs, which will incorporate the Intel WiMAX chip set as they become available in the market. The initial release of BreezeMAX will operate at 3.5GHz – which in the U.S. is a licensed band.
Intel and Proxim announced that they will be working together to develop WiMAX designs. Proxim told the WAVE that they will use Intel chip sets and Intel will use their radio. They will both co-market the products. Both companies are working on the portability version of WiMAX, 802.16e. In particular, they will work together to develop a base station. The portable products are due in later 2005. Intel will be licensing Proxim's software for mobility applications for use in future WiMax products.
Motorola announced that it became a member of the WiMAX Forum on Monday. More important is its current proprietary system, called Canopy, that was announced to be available in the 900MHz frequency range.
Reed Hunt the former FCC Chairman had some of the most interesting comments about wireless. Today’s emphasis on fixed wireless systems in the 2.5GHz and above will not be mass market economical. To implement a wireless system in the 700 – 900MHz band costs 1/5 of that in the higher frequencies. Korea gets it while the U.S. waits handling the transition from UHF channels 60 – 69 that occupy the frequencies. He showed charts that stated it would cost $3 – $5B to cover 50m homes with wireless. The assumptions were that homes could be able to receive 2Mb/s peak and 100kb/s average data rate based on 20MHz of spectrum. Reed argued with a chart that at the end of 6 years there would be a $15b NPV and positive cash flow in for a buildout that could support 50m homes.
Motorola sees the move from wireless data, as reflected in 802.16e, and the move of 3G into wireless data, using 3GPP and 3GPP2, as on a collision course. In the end the value proposition to wireless data will be the same as cellular – mobility. Thus, addressing the mobility problems and achieving systems that work will be the key to the maturation of high speed wireless.
Telecommunications Market Forces
FCC Chairman Powell said it well– the phone system is an excellent example of superb engineering that has evolved over 100 years that had only one purpose, to carry voice. That time has passed and the same network is not adequate in an environment where IP based networks have the flexibility to support many applications, including voice. The IP network is a general purpose platform. The phone companies now recognize this and the move to IP based networks is happening.
A problem of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 is that it failed to recognize this. There are sections of the law based on the type of service or application, phone and cable, for example, that are outdated. Such regulations, and VoIP is the best and most current example, do not fit in the new environment. To burden VoIP with 100 years of regulation, like some of the states are seeking to do, will hurt innovation.
At the same time the concept of multimodal competition is becoming more real – at least in the view of the FCC. When this is reality, it is possible to let one provider have total control of their network when competition is present for similar services by different delivery infrastructures. This was at the heart of the debate over UNE-P and the rules about network sharing with fiber to the home. As we saw earlier, the FCC has high hopes for wireless and powerline.
The expectation of multimodal competition is tempered by the harsh realities of infrastructure cost. Cable poured over $85B to upgrade the existing cable infrastructure so it could be competitive. The announcement by SBC yesterday of a $6B investment is only the beginning of what will be required to improve the infrastructure owned by the incumbent telephone companies. There are some missing points not frequently discussed:
With broadband penetration near 50% in the U.S., extracting high service costs from new subscribers will be very difficult. These are the digital divide households that have less to spend not more. Thus, the drive should not be to increase the ARPU but to lower it.
As Reed Hunt stated, infrastructure costs are ultimately borne by the customers. To launch a major upgrade to the existing telephone infrastructure, i.e., FTTN, and two other new infrastructures, wireless and power, is a very tall order. This is the reason we saw at WiFi Planet the Cerritos, CA, implementation of wireless hot zone for the city. The city qualified in terms of potential ROI, in part, because there was no land based broadband service to compete against wireless.
For the first time, we have seen the prospect of competition between wireless broadband and 3G cellular to the point that there would be substitution of VoIP for cellular 3G.
Cellular as the 800 lb Gorilla
The WAVE has discussed the implication of dominant market technologies before. These include:
Silicon process technology in IC fabrication
Huge ecosystem makes it difficult for other process technology to compete
TFT LCD display
There are many other technologies for flat panel displays but the investment in the LCD drives the players to innovate in TFT-LCD where it is difficult for competing technologies to collect market share.
We suggest that cellular wireless is also such a market creature.
Cellular wireless
Cellular technology has evolved across the G’s to adapt to the market opportunities to the exclusion of other possible entrants.
Some of the factors include:
Installed base of 1.3B
High cost of licensed spectrum ownership
Limited availability of spectrum
In each case, those that seek to attack these markets do so with the prospect of huge gains from only collecting small market share. But the defense mechanisms are likewise aggressive. Consider the case of 802.20. The battles at the IEEE are well known. At Supercomm, we learned that during the standards meeting there are even debates over the agenda of meetings. The cellular incumbents do not want any technology, especially unlicensed, to penetrate its markets.
Significant cracks in the cellular wall are happening, especially in the frequency bands that are most valuable. Here are some points.
Much has been made about the Nextel market trial in the Raleigh-Durham area which uses Flarion technology. Yet, Reed Hunt stated that this had rapidly moved from a market trial to a commercial trail. If so, this indicates a first step towards nationwide deployment.
Flarion makes mobile wireless systems based on FLASH OFDM technology that operate in frequency bands ranging from 400 MHz to 3.5 GHz, but it especially concentrates on providing equipment for mobile-carrier licensed bands, such as 700 MHz, 800 MHz and 1.9 GHz. .
Flarion's OFDM system can support an average data rate of around 1.5 Mbit/s for users in a standard, PCS-sized cell site, using only 1.25 MHz of spectrum and IP technology. This makes it approximately four or five times more spectrally efficient than comparable 3G technologies, cheaper to implement, and significantly faster.
The WiMAX Forum announced at Supercomm that it plans to work with world standards and regulatory bodies on greater allocation of licensed and license-exempt bands in the lower frequencies. The propagation of radio wave is considered better in the lower bands, such as in the 700 MHz frequency range.
On May 14, 2004 the FCC announced a NPRM to begin the process of developing rules for unlicensed wireless devices to operate below 900MHz and in the 3GHz band of the radio frequency spectrum. The FCC's proposal would require that those wireless devices not interfere with existing broadcast signals – which implies cognitive radios in unlicensed use.
Devices allowed under the FCC proposal would include wireless networking cards for computers, wireless connections to printers and keyboards and wireless headsets and computer connections for cellular and phones. Also permitted under the FCC proposal would be wireless transmitters used by wireless broadband providers to deliver service.
FCC Chairman Michael Powell stated that “The opening up of the TV bands to wireless devices could create an ‘explosion’ in new business similar to the impact of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards.”
Even the conference circuit has come alive on the prospects of 700MHz. A 700MHz Networking and Educational Conference 2004 was held at the same time as Supercomm, but in downtown Chicago.
http://www.shorecliffcommunications.com/700users/default.asp
Where is 802.16e in the Wireless Broadband Battles?
802.16e promises mobility but there are various interpretations of what this means. The best example was that given by Sean Maloney, EVP and GM Intel Communications Group, in his keynote at WCA Technical Symposium in January 2004.
“… one drives from Truckee, CA to home in the Bay Area and remains connected all the time. In low density areas one is connected with 1xRTT or 1xEV-DO. As the driver enters the SFO area connectivity is switched to WiMAX portable and then in the home to WiFi.
This has a number of implications:
Seamless hand off between systems – no user intervention;
3G < > WiMAX
WiMAX < > WiFiSufficient density of WiMAX portable towers to allow for continuous coverage;
Frequency which enables large area coverage consistent with tower density.
Intel has also stated openly that they will include WiMAX technology in notebooks in much the same way as Centrino.
Frequency plays a very important role. In the 700 to 900 MHz spectrum, region broad area coverage mobile systems would be much more feasible, than the higher frequencies, and, in fact, WiMAX looks much like Flairon if the WiMAX technology is to support the lower frequencies and mobile usage.
There is a catch. Now WiMAX looks like it is in direct competition with the cellular carriers. In fact, up until the frequency harmonization announcement at Supercomm outlined above, WiMAX has judiciously avoided any implication that WiMAX will operate in the lower frequencies.
It is also important to note that the PAR for 802.16e states that this is only for the licensed spectrum. But in prior discussions with WiMAX they dismissed such a constraint.
With that the WAVE sought to find out what part of the spectrum will 802.16e operate in? In spite of many questions to various individuals at Supercomm we could not determine where in the spectrum 802.16e will lie.
WAVE Comment
The world of wireless communications and connectivity is certainly growing, both literally and figuratively. As with any emerging technology, there are severe growing pains to be overcome. The alignment of regulators and innovators is probably the most important aspect that will foster the growth of wireless connectivity in the public spectrum. As we saw in Chicago at Supercomm 2004, the wireless industry is well beyond its infancy and is, in fact, rapidly maturing. Just as the cellular phone brought about a revolution in how people expanded their telephone connectivity, world-wide broadband wireless voice and computer connectivity will soon be a fact of life, and not just the stuff of science fiction.
***Samsung Electronics Technology for High Definition AV Home Network Solution Adopted for Latest CEA Standard
Ridgefield Park, NJ
July 12, 2004
On July 1, the Consumer Electronics Association approved a new industry standard, CEA-2027, a user interface developed by Samsung Electronics for home networks using web protocols. The new standard signals the ability for Samsung and the digital audio/video industry to deliver pure high definition audio/visual entertainment for the home network.
In the next phase, an open consortium of consumer electronics manufacturers and service providers will be assembled with the aim of establishing a working group focused on advancing the standard. All interested parties will be welcomed.
Samsung’s home network initiative developed for CEA-2027 is known as eXpandable Home Theater (XHT). XHT was developed in response to the FCC mandate requiring digital television manufacturers to integrate digital tuners beginning in July 2004 and to complete the national transition to DTV by 2007.
XHT enhances the ability of integrated digital televisions that incorporate ATSC tuners by allowing consumers to control content and devices, via internet protocol, into multi-rooms, for high definition audio/video networking with a single remote. XHT can also enable easy sharing of the high definition connectivity in their TV with other devices in their home, reducing the need to purchase multiple HDTV tuners.
XHT’s user interface and web protocol, supported in CEA-2027 offers HDTV manufacturers a variety of advantages. HDTV manufacturers can immediately produce and sell XHT connectivity because it creates lower cost source devices such as HDTV tuners, DVD and DVRs and flexibility of a simple software solution for future upgrades. Service Operators, will also benefit by reducing costs to subscribers by simplifying or even eliminating HD set top boxes and related analog components through XHT connectivity. Furthermore digital broadcasters can offer different levels of service enhancing such features as video-on-demand and HTML data services.
Those parties interested in participating in the consortium can contact:
Jack Chaney - jchaney@sisa.samsung.com (408) 544-5410 - or -
CK Lee - changki.lee@samsung.com (408) 544-5411
0427.4 Business Support Software
***IDC Insight: Unisys Ties its Future to 3D Visible Enterprise
Framingman, MA
June 2004
IDC, a global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries, has developed an Insight report on the position of Unisys in the IT world and a new approach by Unisys to emerging markets. The report that was published in June 2004 discussed Unisys’ evolving 3D Visibile Enterprise (#SN52L).
The Insight is placed in the context of Unisys’ refocusing toward the services industry and it’s transformation into a services-led company. Thus, the development of the 3D Visible Enterprise.
According to IDC, the center of Unisys' strategy is its 3D Visible Enterprise and Business Blueprints methodologies – the processes that Unisys developed in it’s transformation from a hardware-focused company to a "services-led, technology-enabled solutions provider" - Unisys' preferred way of describing itself as a company. The frameworks are more of a representation of how Unisys wants to engage with its clients than they are pure practical approaches to delivering projects.
The 3D Visible Enterprise and Business Blueprinting
Unisys describes Business Blueprinting as the framework for describing HOW Unisys can assist the customer to get to the required solution. However, the company has now taken the framework further and covered it by the 3D Visible Enterprise banner. The purpose of the 3D Visible Enterprise framework is to assist the customer in deciding WHAT the required actions or decisions should be. A 3D Visible Enterprise engagement will most often start with an experiential workshop focused on getting the client to identify relevant issues and, through simulation processes and models, show the impact of the proposed changes on the organization and the business. The simulation models also assist in identifying links and interconnections that may otherwise be overlooked. A typical workshop process lasts for two weeks, resulting in an executive presentation of the results. Unisys claims that by using the 3D Visible Enterprise methodology, it can help clients understand the cost benefit and ROI implications of investments, before making them. After the initial workshop, the results will then be brought through the Business Blueprinting framework in order to establish the practical implementation and integration issues, such as identification of necessary business process and organizational changes, application requirements, and infrastructure architecture needs.
The process is iterative and Unisys can take the customer back through some of the loops to adapt to changing business needs or parameters. Unisys has made public several client engagements in Europe, where it has used its 3D Visible Enterprise framework successfully. Examples of these are ING Bank in the Netherlands, the Belgium Ministry of Finance, the Belgium Ministry of Justice, and Slough Borough Council in the U.K.
The full report can be obtained from IDC at
Further discussion about the Unisys 3D Business Enterprise can be found at
http://www.3dvisibleenterprise.com/3dv/index.htm
***New VIZ/SIM Report Now Available From Insight Media
Norwalk, CT
July 15, 2004
The Sixth Edition of the Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality Systems, a new report offered through Insight Media, is a comprehensive look at the exciting Viz/Sim market. This report is 273 pages long and includes 166 tables and 105 charts and is larger, more in-depth and offers finer granularity than ever before.
The report states that the Viz/Sim industry is financially strong, valued in 2003 at nearly $43B, representing a healthy annual growth rate of 9.8%. Strong growth is predicted in most areas of the industry, continuing for the next several years, with a projected market value of almost $78B by 2008.
One of the fastest growing parts of the Viz/Sim market is related to the war on terrorism. This includes disaster recovery training, hazardous materials handling, counter-terrorism training, and a variety of military training applications. Together, fourteen military and civilian applications comprised more than $8B in industry revenue in 2003, up more than 75% from 2002.
The Medical/Biotech Sector contributed another $8.7B to worldwide Viz/Sim revenue. Other top applications of Viz/Sim are chemical manufacturing, business data visualization, psychotherapy, construction planning and design, energy exploration and production, archeology and paleontology, biotechnology research, medical research, and training for heavy equipment operations. These applications accounted for more than $16B in revenue in 2003.
Insight Media thinks that this is the best report in the six-year study and it is easily the industry's largest and most comprehensive market study. It is the only ongoing annual international look at this dynamic business providing trend data, projections and recommendations not found anywhere else. Based on a survey of VizSim/VR vendors, users, and researchers from around the world, this study encompasses every continent and every major company and lab involved in the field. Data comes from commercial companies, universities, military agencies, and other areas where VizSim/VR technology is being bought, used, and studied.
The study asks questions in three interest areas: Finance, Technology and Demographics. Statistical interpretation of the data helps determine overall market size, vendor market share, spending on various components, satisfaction with products and vendors and much more.
The Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality Systems, Sixth Edition is based on questionnaires completed by respondents from 17 countries. They provided over 41,000 data points, which are analyzed in the report. The survey’s overriding aim was to address the needs of customers by providing more useful and actionable information. To satisfy that need, new levels of cross-tabulation, which provides a more granular and in-depth view of the marketplace have been added providing information by country, by application, by company size, and by average system cost. This will enable all readers to see with much greater clarity how systems are valued, quantities of systems and components sold, and many other bits of information for specific application, country, or other interests. For example, the reader will be able to understand how system component costs differ for every application, by system cost or company size, and by geographic location.
More applications have also been added, now totaling 75, with summary information based on six business sectors. The report adds significantly more trend information to the Financial Findings, such as market value by the 75 specific applications. This can now be compared to previous years in 2-3 year trends, which will is useful in estimating market growth.
The Technology Findings Section offers penetrating looks at the numbers of Viz/Sim systems sold, what components are most used, display usage, and many other factors, all cross-tabulated by company size, system cost, application, country, and other points of interest. Where and why various operating systems are used and what delivery systems get content to end-users, are questions also answered in the Technology Findings. As always, the satisfaction index and Opportunity Index™ show what features of Viz/Sim systems and components users like, which they hate, and how to use the opportunities that information provides.
Rounding out the actionable information in this report, the Demographic Findings provide a description of the Viz/Sim-involved individual today. We learn how long these professionals have been in the business, where they work, what applications they work on, even what they read. Combined with the information in the other sections, this demographic information fills in the final puzzle pieces, to reveal the picture of the Viz/Sim marketplace today.
Recommended Purchasers
The information in The Market for Visual Simulation/Virtual Reality Systems, Sixth Edition will be useful to executive management, financial, marketing and technical officers, investors in Viz/Sim companies, and to purchasers of Viz/Sim systems. Insight Media suggests it to help fine-tune product planning, to sharply focus targeted marketing or channel development efforts, to guide investors into profitable, viable application areas, and to help purchasers feel confident that they are getting the components and features they need to build successful applications.
Previous editions of the report have been purchased by Fortune 500 enterprises, small, fast-track companies, government agencies, and educational institutions globally, including Hewlett Packard, IBM, Iowa State University, Kodak, LG Electronics, SGI, Siemens, SONY, Sun Microsystems, and Texas Instruments, among others.
http://www.insightmedia.info/vizsim04TOC.htm
***Chaska.net Goes Live with Tropos Metro-Scale Wi-Fi Network and Quickly Sees Explosive Subscriber Growth
CHASKA, Minn.
July 15, 2004
20% of the City's Households Have Already Pre-Subscribed to the $15.99/Month Ubiquitous Wi-Fi Service Based on Tropos Networks Equipment
Tropos Networks announced that chaska.net, a wireless internet service provider (WISP) owned and operated by the City of Chaska, Minnesota, has gone live with it's metro-scale Wi-Fi network completely covering the 16 square mile footprint of the community. The wireless broadband network, delivering symmetric data rates of 1-3 Mbps throughout the city with unlimited mobility, has proven to be a very attractive alternative to existing cable, DSL and dial-up services for the residents of the city.
Chaska.net started marketing its service and accepting pre-subscriptions just four weeks ago. In that short timeframe, chaska.net has seen a 20% take rate, with more than 1,500 subscriptions out of 7,500 homes. By eliminating truck rolls, expensive CPE equipment and costly wired backhaul, the metro-scale Wi-Fi solution from Tropos allows chaska.net to offer enhanced broadband services at a fraction of the cost of the service plans available from the existing cable and DSL providers. The price point of $15.99 per month with unlimited mobility throughout the city has made the service economically alluring for Chaska residents.
In addition to the economic advantages of the service, subscribers stay connected to the community via a specially created chaska.net home page. This community resource highlights current city events and special promotions of local merchants and organizations.
The city-wide chaska.net network utilizes 186 Tropos 5110 Wi-Fi cells, an outdoor-optimized and ruggedized wireless mesh router based on the 802.11 standard. The Tropos 5110 quickly and economically uses the intelligent Tropos Predictive Wireless Routing Protocol (PWRP) to provide pervasive coverage over metro areas. The Tropos PWRP routes traffic wirelessly, eliminating up to 95% of the wired backhaul associated with traditional access point solutions. Tropos Wi-Fi cells form a wireless mesh, dynamically routing traffic along the highest throughput path to a wired gateway. This intelligent routing negates effects of radio frequency (RF) interference, wired backhaul failure and node failure. PWRP also scales to thousands of nodes with the lowest routing overhead in the industry. To further minimize costs, Chaska.net uses a combination of city fiber and fixed point-to-multipoint wireless technology for its backhaul connections. Network support costs are minimized via the central management capabilities of the Tropos Control Element Manager, a configuration, monitoring and maintenance tool.
Note: Chaska.net is a Wireless Internet Provider (WISP) owned and operated by the City of Chaska; providing wireless Internet services to residential and business users in Chaska and other Caver County, MN areas.
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